Caldwell-class destroyer

The Caldwell class was a class of six flush-deck destroyers of the United States Navy built during the First World War and shortly after. USS Caldwell, built by the Mare Island Navy Yard, was the name ship, a 1,125-ton four-stack destroyer, and the class brought back the flush-deck hull form that became widespread. Four ships served as convoy escorts in the Atlantic and the other two were completed too late for wartime service. Built in 1917 and 1918, the ships were flush-decked to remove the forecastle break weakness of the preceding Tucker class, and the forward sheer was improved to keep the forward gun from being washed out, though the beam torpedo tubes and wing turrets were counted design flaws. Two were scrapped in the 1930s; four survived through the Second World War, three of them with the Royal Navy under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement and one as a high-speed transport. Bath Iron Works in Maine built one, Manley.